HUS year 2022: From the CEO: We are moving in the right direction

Early in the year under review, our operations were still colored by the coronavirus pandemic. In the spring, public sector strikes and other prolonged industrial action severely complicated our operations, even though we were not actually a negotiating party in these labor market disputes. Industrial action hampered personnel availability, with which we were already having issues, and had a negative impact on access to treatment. Our waiting lists are still too long.

Even now, the service production situation is difficult. The year 2022 was financially a poor one, because we were unable to produce the services we budgeted for; and because service revenue remained short of the goal, we ended up declaring a significant deficit. We are aiming to restore normal operations in 2023.

Although we still face challenges with the aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic and the industrial action, my outlook is calm.  Finances will be of heightened importance this year, because we are now Joint Authority HUS, owned by the wellbeing services counties in the Uusimaa region and by the City of Helsinki; our funding now comes from the central government. What is significant is that our accrual-based billing has now been replaced with a budget framework.

Positive trend in employee experience

It is likely that we will continue to suffer from a shortage of two things: people and money. There is much talk of the personnel shortage. We have inadequate numbers of nursing staff, particularly in wards working on a stressful three-shift basis. However, many of our units are well staffed. Nursing personnel attrition is particularly apparent among young fixed-term employees. We need to find out why young employees are fatigued or become fatigued. Perhaps we have given them too much responsibility too early, or we could support them better.

Surveys show that there is a positive trend in the employee experience. Employees are largely satisfied with their supervisors and how their leadership has evolved. There will always be challenges in an organization this big, but I feel the situation is clearly positive. I am proud to be a part of this community.

Cooperation is the only way to thrive

I took up the position of CEO at HUS in February. Preparations for the health, social services and rescue services reform had begun much earlier. In the spring, we expanded and reinforced our preparatory measures and were ready for the change when the reform was executed at the end of the year under review.

The year 2022 was the last year of the HUS Joint Municipal Authority. The new Joint Authority HUS was set up in the spring. At the same time, we prepared for a completely new operating environment by updating the HUS organization. 

The only way to thrive and to make the special design devised for the Uusimaa region work is to establish seamless cooperation between HUS, the wellbeing services counties and the City of Helsinki. HUS has only one door and only one population of patients: the people of Uusimaa − or, more broadly, the people of southern Finland. We serve everyone on an equal basis, regardless of which wellbeing services county they come from.

Towards the end of the year, we also updated the HUS strategy by clarifying our focus areas for the strategy period 2023−2027. Our vision, ‘Leading healthcare together’, is a manifestation of working together. Today’s research is tomorrow’s treatment, and today’s student is tomorrow’s professional. All this requires funding, and availability of funding is something that we need to secure in collaboration with the wellbeing services counties and the City of Helsinki.

Matti Bergendahl
CEO